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Monday, April 29, 2013

Video: “Wildcat” (Origins of an All-Black Rodeo in Oklahoma; Scored by Flying Lotus)

Kahlil Joseph and
Flying Lotus have once again teamed up to give a new beautifully shot short abstract
film entitled Wildcat. According to Nowness, the film explores the "little-known African-American
rodeo subculture," in Grayson, Oklahoma with Lotus handeling the score.

“Joseph, who is part of the Los Angeles-based What Matters Most film collective, visited
the annual August rodeo in the sparsely populated Oklahoma town of Grayson
(previously Wildcat), an event that attracts African-American bull riders,
barrel racers and cowgirls from all over the Midwest and southern USA. He set
out to celebrate the origins of the rodeo by paying respect to the spirit of
Aunt Janet, a member of the family who founded the event, passed away last year
and is embodied as the young girl in the film. “Black people are light years
more advanced than the ideas and images that circulate would have you believe.
The spaces we control and exist are my ground zero for filming, at least so
far, and there are opportunities for me to tap into the energy,” says Joseph.
“So an all-black town with an all-black rodeo in the American heartland was a
kind of vortex or portal through which I could actually show this.”